One Day at a Time
by Yi Lin
Summary: Seiji is a hot shot lawyer, Ryo is a rookie detective, and Touma is a...?? ^__^ Read and find out. (Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Shuu or Shin. XD I have other plans for them...) AU, YAOI, and all that good stuff.


**Disclaimers: I don't own Ronin Warriors so I won't pretend that I do for the obvious reason of not wanting to be sued since I'm very poor. So I suppose if the rich owners want a block of wood and a rotting piece of apple.... -__- go for it.**

A/N: Sorry... I decided to put my other fic on the back burner for now. Don't really know where I was going with on that one though I will finish it when I get hit with inspiration. ::cough:: As for this fic, it is AU and Yaoi. Happy reading, comments and reviews always welcome! ^__^

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One Day at a Time

By

Yi Lin

Chapter One: Routines

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Everything was routine to him. From this dark street corner illuminated by a disgusting yellow street lamp to the stained rag lying in the garbage infested gutters were nothing new to him. In fact he expected it so much that he would be shocked not to see these conditions as he worked. He wasn't proud of himself. Not in his wildest dreams did he expect that things turned out the way they did, but fate had other things in mind for him. Oh, lucky him. He reminded himself he needed to have a chat with this fate and show him a thing or two.

"Hey, sexy… want to come for a ride?" A portly middle aged man, who obviously never heard of personal hygiene, wreaked of tobacco and alcohol even before opening that disgusting mouth to reveal yellowed teeth. Trying not to puke on his own shoes, Touma plastered on a fake smile and nodded his head appearing to be very interested. Business was business after all.

He was led into a silver Mercedes Benz. Well, at least he was going to get paid well for his efforts. Again, that was also routine. Apparently he attracted a lot of men, often wealthy men, because of his blue tresses and the fact that he had a toned, muscular body that was clearly visible with the mesh gray shirt that clung to his upper body with ebony pants accenting well defined legs that went on forever and a day.

Touma let his body go through the usual motions like a robot. Smile, laugh when appropriate, and the customer was always right. Even now, he was feigning attention to the thing he was seated next to, didn't even bother remembering his name or rather he didn't give it. The rich ones were less open about who they were for the obvious reasons of not tarnishing a _respectable reputation as well as probably having a wife and a couple of kids on the side. None of that mattered to Touma as long as he was paid._

The ride was silent though no less uncomfortable than if his customer had asked him personal questions since Touma could feel that the other was mentally undressing him even as he drove. The bulge he spotted forming underneath an enormous belly was proof enough of that. He held in the contempt he was feeling for it looked like the other was about ready to unleash his load right then and there. How disgusting.

Letting his mind wander for a bit, he focused his cerulean orbs out his side window. Flashes of his early childhood were often the first things he thought about. Those were probably the only times he could really recall while on a call since he never got teary eyed over it. It wasn't most loving home he had, but it was _his home. One that he cherished and brought him an inner peace and calm that he definitely needed to get through the day._

The car was shifted into park, and the engine shut off. Cue the hungry predatory look and the roaming hands. Did he mention that the hands were also particularly dirty and in desperate need of a manicure? Wait. There were more than two hands… plenty more. Shit. Touma was so wrapped up in his own thoughts he failed to hear the car door open to reveal two more men. 

"Hey, this one is really hot. Makes me want to take him right here and now." The blonde of the two men mercilessly ran his hands up and down his body while the other drooled and shamelessly groped at Touma's pants. Anger boiled deep within, and he lashed out immediately. It was one thing to whore himself out for money, but he still had some pride left and he wasn't about to take this without a fight. 

Pulling his legs back a bit before extending them forward to land both feet into the gut of the blonde causing him to fall on his ass a few feet away from the door. Touma attempted to exit the car, but was roughly held back by the locks of his hair held by his original customer. Now he was really seeing red. Instinctively his fist made contact with the large man's jaw. "Let go of me, you disgusting pile of shit!"

"Tsk, tsk. You should watch your language… it's not becoming of one so pretty." 

Touma's head snapped towards the new voice. The leader of this rat tag team. Just great, just fucking great. All he wanted was to do what was necessary, get paid, and go home. Now it doesn't seem too likely that such a thing was going to happen. "You can go fuck yourself."

"No, no my pretty one. That's not polite, not at all. I'm going to have fun with you. Such spirit and fire you possess." The ebony haired leader acted differently than his lackeys. Arrogance and pompous jackass was written all over him, and he obviously had a lot of money from the expensive looking suit he wore down to the gold rings adorning his fingers. With a flick of his wrist, the other three guys gathered around Touma, each smirking at him as they took hold of his upper limbs none too gently.

"You're going to regret this." Blue hues grew hard and cold as he stared straight at the leader with deep loathing as he continued to struggle against his captors, but to no avail. He was not strong enough to hold off three large men. Mentally cursing his own weakness, he tried to shout, however, a white linen cloth was placed over his parted mouth.

"I'm going to enjoy this is more like it." Those were the last words that Touma heard before his eyes rolled to the back of his head and he lost consciousness in the living world. His now limp body was dragged away from the car and brought inside the warehouse looking building just thirty feet away.

*              *              *              *              *

"Date-san, your appointment with Sanada-san from Sendai Central Police is in fifteen minutes."

"Arigatou, Yagyu-san. Show him in when he arrives." Pushing the off button on the intercom, the blonde leaned back into his chair to take a break from reading the papers on his desk. Lately, he had been feeling the stress of his company. It had been rough going in the beginning, but he thought that things were going fairly well recently until he found out that some of his so called trusted partners were embezzling large sums of money from the firm. The long hours spent with the police and organizing the records wasn't a part of his plans for the month.

Regardless of whether he wanted it to, the work goes on. Luckily for him, not all of his partners were a part of the scandal. If they were, then the company would really be in trouble. Delicately messaging his temples to fight off the forming headache, he let out a soft sigh. At least things were never boring. Whether that was a good thing or not was not yet decided by the young blonde.

A loud knock echoed through his office brought his attention back to the present. "Come in." 

The knob turned and the door was pushed inwards to reveal a well built ebony haired man adorned in casual clothes consisting of a simple navy blue shirt and black pants. Flashing his silver badge at Seiji, his blue hues twinkled in amusement. "Detective Sanada Ryo at your service, Date-sama. Command and I shall obey."

"Knock it off Ryo. You are so childish." Seiji couldn't help but crack a smile at his childhood friend. He could feel the stress and worries just float away and for that he was grateful. He knew the reason for the visit, but it was still good to see a friendly face once in a while. Made everything seem less of a pain in the ass than usual.

"Well, I'm actually here on official business, as you already know. Your partners are currently being thoroughly investigated and all your files are all possible evidence once they get charged."

"So, you don't have enough evidence to make an arrest?" He could actually feel the stress levels escalating off the charts. It was rather annoying tip toeing around his partners since they had no idea that he was well aware of their not so legal practices. Each time he saw one of them, he was ready to just let loose and show them what was really on his mind. Though, of course, he had more self discipline than that so he kept his cool mask on, appearing oblivious to all.

"Afraid so. Sorry, man, but they covered their tracks well. There are only some discrepancies on paper so it's hard to nail them. We're working on it though. Just be patient." Ryo ran his fingers through his soft hair looking frustrated. Those bastards were getting on his nerves. He passed one of them walking down the hall and it took all of his self control not to whip the floor with his smug face. Messing with his friends was a definite no. He was going to make sure they paid the price. "They'll slip up sometime and I'll be there to catch them red handed."

"I suppose that's all I can do. Thank you, Ryo. This means a lot to me." It really did. Seiji was not one that was very social so as a result the number of close friends he had could be counted on a single hand. The number of friends may be small, but it took a lot to gain his friendship so they were very dear to his heart and saw a side of him only his family ever saw.

"What are friends for? 'Sides, it's fun to catch bad guys!" The kid in Ryo shined through. It was hard to picture him as a real cop when it sounded like he was playing cops and robbers like they did when they were little. Some things just don't change, and it was a good thing. "Time for me to get back to work. Lots of bad guys out there for me catch and kick!"

Chuckling softly, he nudged Ryo out of his office and leaned his lithe form against the doorframe as he watched his friend make his not so graceful exit. "Watch it! Don't go hurting my secretary! Good help is hard to find these days."

"Ahh, sorry miss. It seems that hanging around Seiji, even though only briefly, has made me rather clumsy especially around a pretty young girl such as yourself." Winking over the head of the ebony haired secretary at Seiji, the detective bowed slightly to the woman he plowed into. "My deepest apologies."

"Don't worry about it Sanada-san. No harm done." Flashing a small smile at her employer's friend, Mia's face remained polite, yet she was not at all concentrated at the scene at hand. Far from it. Bending slightly at the waist, she held the files in her possession to her chest as she spoke. "Date-san, I have the files you requested."

"Thank you." Retrieving the files from her possession, Seiji shot Ryo a mock glare. "Now if only a certain individual would work as hard and as well as Yagyu-san, then I wouldn't have too much stress."

"I can take a hint. Geez, try and help out a friend and all I get is sass. I'm out of here, don't need to take this kind of treatment. Especially from you. Good day miss." With a wave of his hand, Ryo turned his back and walked out the entrance of the building. "And go home Seiji! When's the last time you actually left the office?"

His retort died in his throat and he could only shake his head as he watched the retreating back of his friend. "Some people just never change." Turning his head towards Mia, he once again let the sound drop off. "That's strange, she was standing here just a moment ago…" Seiji had noticed that Mia hasn't been quite her cheerful self lately, but he figured it might have something to do with her little brother that he heard her speak of on occasion. Shrugging his shoulders, he returned to his office to give attention to paperwork that already started to collect dust.

*              *              *              *              *

A trail of brown liquid ran down the white wall to lead to a pool of liquid and broken pieces of what was a tea cup remained untouched upon the floor next to an oak desk. A desk that was occupied by a scowling man in his early forties who looked very disgruntled at the lady standing at the foot of his of desk. "What did they discuss?"

"Apparently the police don't have enough evidence to arrest you. Yet. They are working on it and Sanada-san seems very dedicated to his work."

"Damn noisy little bastard. Well, we'll just have to not give him anything to find then will we?" A light bulb seemed to light above the man at the desk, and a rather satisfied sneer spread across his face. "Seems it's time that I deal with Date-san. Seems a pity though, he was rather useful at bringing in the cases, but everyone loses their usefulness at some point. Now it's just his turn to go on a long vacation."

The young lady let out a cough as an eyebrow arched up. "My payment?"

"Ah, of course. Your… payment. Don't you worry my dear, all will be taken care of. Your brother is safe, and will remain so. For now." It was rather unnerving to see that mask of professional lawyer replaced with something to malicious and vile that it even marred what some people consider a handsome face topped with ebony locks. 

"But you promised! All I had to do was spy on him and his detective friend!" Blue hues flashed with anger, fear, and hopelessness all at once. "Why can't you just let him go? Please… he's but a child." 

"Yes, indeed he is but a child. However, it wouldn't be in my best interests to let him go free just yet. You have nothing to worry about, he's being well taken care of." A calloused hand reached out to the phone situated at a corner of his desk and pressed a number on speed dial before bringing the receiver to his ear. "Get the boy on the line." A corner of his mouth lifted up in a smirk as he extended the phone out towards her. "Now, you see. I'm not an unreasonable man. I will even let you speak to your brother."

Nothing could be heard from her as she took the phone with trembling hands and her voice shook with unchecked emotions, showing how much love she held within herself. "Jun-chan? Is that you? Kami-sama, are you all right? Did they hurt you? Good. I'm doing my best, don't you worry." A pause in her flood of words was heard as she listened intently, taking in every word Jun uttered. A hand went to her eyes, brushing away the tears that fell freely down her pale cheeks. "Won't be long now…. I miss you too…. Don't ever forget, whatever happens, I love you…"

Click. All the young lady could hear was a dial tone. Resisting the urge to hurl the receiver right at the pompous kidnapper, she left it on the desk and walked out with a straight face. She wasn't going to give him the satisfaction, not now. Not ever. "I think that's enough for today. Maybe I'll feel generous next week… if you are good." The reverberations of the door slamming shut echoed through the hall to cover up the maniacal chuckles from within the office.

"You will pay dearly for this…."

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To be continued...

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